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FORT MARION 



AND 



CITY GATES 

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA 




OFFICIAL HISTORY 



AUTHORIZED BY 



The St. Augustine Institute of Science 
and Historical Society 




POCKET EDITION 

PRICE 15 Cents 



COPYRIGHT— 1915 
By W. J. Harris Co., St. Aupustine, Florida 



F 319 
.S2 S16 
Copy 1 



FORT MARION 



AND 



CITY GATES 

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA 




OFFICIAL HISTORY 

AUTHORIZED BY 

The St. Augustine Institute of Science 
and Historical Society 




POCKET EDITION 

PRICE 1 5 Cents 



COPYRIGHT— 1915 
By W. J. Harris Co., St. Aupustine, Florida 



■ u i i i mi B W 



' b ^ (£> / Co 



FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 

THE first permanent settlement, on what is now 
the territory of the United States, was estab- 
Hshed by Pedro Menendez de Aviles on August 
28, 1565, on the spot where St. Augustine now stands. 
His expedition, which sailed from Cadiz, Spain, in July 
of that year, consisted of 2600 souls, embarked on board 
34 vessels, the largest of which was of 1000 tons bur- 
den. 

There being great danger of attack by both the 
French and English, work was at once commenced on 
a fort, or castle, which they called San Juan de Pinos. 
This structure was built of logs and earth. 

ATTACKS. 

In 1586 Sir Francis Drake arrived off St. Augus- 
tine. He immediately landed his troops on Anastasia 
Island, intending to make an attack the next day. Dur- 
ing the night, however, the Spaniards fled from the 
castle, leaving behind 13 or 14 great pieces of brass ord- 
nance and 2000 pounds sterling, which had been sent to 
pay the soldiers. Upon learning that the soldiers had 
fled Drake immediately crossed the bay and plundered 
and dsetroyed the fort. The following day as they 
were marching toward the town, which was then be- 
yond Maria Sanchez Creek, southwest of where the 
Ponce de Leon Hotel now stands, a Spaniard fired from 
ambush, killing Drake's sergeant-major. In retaliation 
for this Drake burned the town and destroyed the gar- 
dens. 



After the departure of Drake the Spaniards began 
work on another fort. This was built of wood and 
earth, in the shape of an octagon. A few years later 
coquina came into general use and was largely used in 
strengthening and enlarging the fortifications. 

JOHN DAVIS. 

In 1665 the famous pirate, John Davis, plundered 
and burned the town, but obtained little booty. The 
castle was not taken, but after his departure the plans 
were changed and the work of reconstructing the castle 
as it stands today was begun. 

GOVERNOR MOORE. 

In 1702 Governor Moore, of South Carolina, sent 
an expedition, consisting of 600 militia and the same 
number of Indians, against St. Augustine. Part of the 
expedition under Colonel Daniels came by land, attacked 
and took immediate possession of the town, the troops 
and inhabitants retiring to the fort. Governor Moore 
arrived shortly after with a naval force, but owing to 
the lack of heavy siege guns, no impression on the fort 
could be made. Colonel Daniels was then sent to Ja- 
maica for the necessary artillery, but during his ab- 
sence two Spanish vessels appeared before the harbor 
and fearing his retreat might be cut off, Moore, after a 
siege of three months, abandoned the undertaking and 
returned to South Carolina. Before he retired, how- 
ever, he committed the barbarity of burning the town 
— making the third time St. Augustine had been re- 
duced to ashes by an invading force. *" 

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GOVERNOR OGLETHORPE. 

In 1740 Governor Oglethorpe, of Georgia, besieged 
St. Augustine. On June 12th he opened fire with three 
batteries located on the island and mainland across the 
bay. The garrison at that time consisted of about 750 
men, while the total population of all classes was about 
2100. The inhabitants all took refuge in the fort, 
where they were compelled to remain for 38 days, dur- 
ing the heat of summer, until the siege was raised on 
July 20th. The bombardment did little damage owing 
to the spongy nature of the material of which the walls 
are constructed. Many holes where cannon balls en- 
tered the walls on the water side may still be seen. 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

Florida, which was in the possession of England 
from 1763 to 1784, remained loyal to that country dur- 
ing the revolutionary war. After the fall of Charles- 
ton 61 gentlemen of high standing, believed by the 
British to be promoters of the revolution, were sent to 
St. Augustine as prisoners. A number of these pa- 
triots, including General Gadsen, were closely confined 
in the fort for nearly a year. The others were allowed 
the freedom of the city, but were treated with great 
indignity and contempt. 

FLORIDA CEDED TO UNITED STATES| 

On the 10th of July, 1821, the flag of Spain, which 
for two and a half centuries had waved over St. Augus- 
tine, was lowered forever from the castle and in its 
place rose the Stars and Stripes. 



THE CIVIL WAR. 

On March 11th, 1862, the fort was surrendered 
without resistance to Commodore Rogers, of the Union 
forces, and remained garrisoned by the Federal troops 
until the end of the w^ar. 

PRISONERS OF WAR. 

In 1875 Comanche, Kiowa and Arrapaho Indians to 
the number of 77 were confined in Fort Marion. In 
1886 five hundred Apache prisoners of war were sent 
to Fort Marion, where they were kept for more than a 
year, after which they were transferred to Alabama. 
During the Spanish-American war of 1898 it was used 
as a military prison. 



COMMENCEMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE 

FORT, 1665. 

Prisoners from Mexico were sent to assist in the 
work. Spanish governors and soldiers came and went 
and still the work went on. It was not until 1756, 
ninety-one years later, that the engineer in charge could 
place over the entrance the coat of arms of Spain with 
the inscription, which, translated, reads: 

"Don Fernandez the Sixth being King of Spain, and 
Field Marshal Don Alonzo Fernandez de Herreda, Gov- 
ernor and Captain-General of the city of St. Augustine, 
Florida, and its province, this fortress was finished in 
the year 1756. The works were directed by the Cap- 
tain-Engineer, Don Pedro de Brazas y Garay.'* 

During all the Spanish rule the structure was 
known as San Marco Castle. After coming into posses- 



sion of the United States the name was changed to 
Fort Marion, in honor of General Francis Marion, of 
Revolutionary fame. 

BUILT OF COQUINA. 

The fort is built of coquina (a shell rock of natural 
formation), which was obtained from quarries two 
miles below the present light house, on what is known 
as the old quarry road, and which will richly repay a 
visit. The blocks of cut stones were transported down 
Quarry Creek and across the Bay on barges, and car- 
ried to their present position with cross-bars. Not- 
withstanding the fact that most of the work was done 
by slaves, we are told that upwards of thirty million 
dollars were expended on the work and the King of 
Spain, on learning of this exclaimed, "Its curtains and 
bastions must be made of solid silver." 

BASTIONS AND TOWERS. 

Fort Marion has four nearly equal bastions (the 
triangular-shaped corners), known as St. Peter, St. 
Paul, St. Augustin^ and St. Charles, and four connect- 
ing walls called curtains. On three of the bastions are 
sentry towers, while on that to the northeast stands a 
high watch tower, commanding a view of both land and 
water. The walls are about 12 ft. thick at the base, 9 
ft. at the top, and about 25 ft. high. 

PLAZA, RAMP AND TERREPLEIN. 

The covering over the space between the inner and 
outer walls is called the terreplein, and is about 40 ft. 



wide. Upon it the guns were mounted. Around the 
outer edge of the terreplein is a wall 3 ft. thick and 6 
ft. high, known as the parapet. This was pierced for 
64 guns. On the water front the parapet was lower. 
The ascent to the terreplein is up an incline plane known 
as the ramp, recently converted into steps. The upper 
part of the ramp is supported by a peculiar shaped arch, 
remarkable for the fact that it was constructed without 
a keystone. The plaza, or inner court, is 100 ft. square, 
and the casemates, with one or two exceptions, open 
into it. There are 26 casemates, 5 dungeons and one 
magazine. The only entrance is through the sallyport 
in the middle of the south curtain. 

CASEMATES. 

The two casemates at the right of the entrance 
were guard rooms and contain fireplaces. Leading off 
from the inner of these rooms is a large dungeon which 
was used as the general prison. 

The casemate at the left of the entrance was the 
Commander's quarters, while the two rooms leading off 
from it were used by the other officers of his staff. 

COURT ROOM. 

In the southwest corner is the court room, where 
the raised platform for the judge and his officers may 
still be seen. In this room in 1837 the famous Indian 
chief, Osceola, together with Coacoochee and Talmus 
Had jo, were imprisoned. At the rear of the room are 
the notches which the two latter dug in the masonry 
to enable them to climb to the ventilator 18 ft. above 



the floor. Through the horizontal bars, 8 inches apart, 
in this ventilator they worked their way and dropped 
to the moat about 25 ft. below, from where they made 
their escape. Osceola refused to accompany them, say- 
ing that a white man had unjustly imprisoned him and 
a white man should set him free. Near the door are 
three notches dug by him in the wall to enable him to 
climb to the window ledge over the doors, where he 
could sit and look out through the iron bars onto the 
court below. One can imagine nothing more pathetic 
than the sad face of this brave warrior looking out 
through the iron bars of this cruel prison, waiting and 
hoping for the day when he might again enjoy the 
freedom of his native wilds — the day which never came. 
The treacherous manner in which he was captured and 
imprisoned must always remain a blot on the pages of 
American history. 

COUNCIL CHAMBER AND POWDER MAGAZINE. 

In the northwest corner of the court is the room 
used as the council chamber. Leading from this is a 
dungeon, which was used as the powder magazine. At 
one side near the top of the magazine is a large niche 
with a small opening looking into the council room, but 
not visible from that side. It is supposed that this was 
so arranged in order that the Commandant could listen 
to the proceedings of the council without their knowl- 
edge. 

CHAPEL. 

At the north side of the court, directly opposite the 
sallyport, is the chapel. The entrance to this room was 



once very ornamental, but the hand of time has nearly 
obliterated this work. Entering we see on each side 
the niches for holy water; just beyond, on the right, 
pieces of cedar imbedded in the masonry mark the place 
where the confessional was fastened to the wall. At 
the rear is a raised stone platform for the altar, which 
was undoubtedly faced with marble or precious wood, 
and above the altar a large niche where stood the patron 
saint, Saint Augustine. Looking up we see near the 
spring of the arch the ends of the old timbers which 
supported the platform for the choir. Directly over- 
head, near the middle of the room, is a square hole 
from which hung an immense wooden cross called the 
rood. On either side of the chapel are doorways 
through the iron bars of which prisoners could hear 
mass before being executed. The bars were necessary 
as at that time if a prisoner gained access to a chapel 
and knelt at the altar he could claim the right of sanc- 
tuary. 

SECRET DUNGEONS. 

At the northeast corner of the court is a room 
called the *'pennancarrah." On the south wall of this 
room can be seen the marks where six crosses were 
fastened to the wall. Under these crosses prisoners 
were suspended in chains in such a manner they could 
neither sit or lie down. In this room were also several 
shrines. At the north side of this room we enter a 
dungeon-, 30 ft. long on the west side, 16 ft. on the east, 
17 ft. on the south and 20 ft. on the north. This, we 
are told, was a prison. Through an opening at the 
north side of this room we enter a room 5 ft. wide at 



the east end, 7 ft. at the west, 20 ft. long and 15 ft. 
high. This room was used as a torture chamber. Sev- 
eral feet above the floor are the holes where the rotting 
timbers of a rack are said to have been found. The 
rack was a frame on which a man was fastened so that 
when the frame was stretched by means of levers the 
man's joints could be separated. If carried to the ex- 
treme he would be torn limb from limb. From this 
room we find a small opening 36 in. wide by 30 in. high. 
This opening had been carefully walled up in such a 
manner as to almost baffle discovery, but was found by 
Lieutenant Tuttle and Colonel Dancy in 1835. Passing 
through this opening we enter a dungeon 20 ft. long, 13 
ft. wide and about 7 ft. high. In this dismal place, 
where not the faintest ray of daylight ever penetrates, 
and far from the sounds of the outside world, were 
found crumbled human bones. No one disputes the 
finding of these bones, but historians disagree some- 
what as to the position in which they were found. In 
one corner is the outline of a hole called the oublette, 
which tradition tells us extended down to quicksand 
and was used for the disposal of the dead. A visit to 
these rooms, which were accidentally discovered by the 
United States Government in 1835, should convince the 
most skeptical of the cruelty of those early days. 

MOAT. 

Around the fort is a moat 40 ft. wide which has a 
concrete floor, now hidden by about 6 ft. of sand. Pro- 
tecting the entrance in the barbican, which the waters 
of the moat formed into an island ; access being gained 
to the barbican and thence to the fort by means of 



drawbridges. Inside the drawbridge was the portcullis 
which ran in a groove still to be seen. Outside the 
moat on three sides is the covered way, a narrow level 
space for the massing of troops, which widens in spots 
called places of arms. Outside of all, except on the 
water front, is the glacis, an earthen embankment lead- 
ing up to the fort and so constructed that the guns on 
the walls could sweep every foot of it. 

HOT SHOT OVEN. 

The hot shot oven and water battery were con- 
structed by the United States Government in 1835-42, 
the object being to heat shot white hot in the oven and 
fire them from the mortars at the vessels of an ap- 
proaching enemy. The present sea wall was construct- 
ed at this time at an expense of one hundred thousand 
dollars. 

In the walls of the fort, both front and back of 
the hot shot oven, can be seen the bullet holes where 
prisoners were executed. 

CITY GATES AND EARLY DEFENSES OF 
ST. AUGUSTINE. 

St. Augustine being surrounded by water on three 
sides, there was little danger of an attack except from 
the north. To guard against this, three lines of de- 
fense were constructed across the peninsula from the 
Matanzas to the San Sebastian Rivers. Fort Moosa 
was located on the Matanzas river about four miles 
north of the present post office. This fort was of con- 
siderable size. It was a complete fortress with four 
bastions, moat, drawbridge, etc., and garrisoned at one 
time with 133 men. A line of defense extended from 
this fort to the San Sebastian. The second line of de- 

10 — 



fense extended across the peninsula near what is now 
Myrtle Avenue. The inner and last line ran from Fort 
Marion to the San Sebastian and the present CITY 
GATES were then the only entrance to the city. The 
gates as we see them today were built of stone, but the 
rest of the wall was of logs stood on end. On the outer 
side of this wall was a moat or deep ditch (a section of 
this may still be seen near the San Sebastian) filled 
with water, and the approach to the gates was over a 
drawbridge which was pulled up at night. An addi- 
tional line of defense consisting of a breastworks of 
earth having on its summit several rows of Spanish 
bayonets planted so closely as to be almost impene- 
trable extended from the northern wall south on what 
is now the line of Cordova Street to a point almost 
abreast the Barracks, from where it ran east and 
joined the Matanzas. 

Fort Marion is in all respects a castle built after 
the plan of those of the middle ages, and is today one 
of the best preserved specimens of the military archi- 
tecture of its time. It has withstood many sieges and 
proven itstlf capable on all occasions of resisting the 
enemy. Its casemates and dungeons are viewed with 
wonder and amazement by more than one hundred thou- 
sand visitors annually. 

ST. AUGUSTINE ^ P ^ ^ ^ 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

1513 — March 27, Florida discovered by Ponce de Leon. 
1564 — July, Huguenot settlement on St. Johns River. 
1565 — Aug. 28th, St. Augustine settled by Menendez. 
1565 — Massacre of 350 French by Menendez, on Anasta- 

sia Island. 
1580 — Coquina discovered on Anastasia Island. 
1586 — Sir Francis Drake attacks St. Augustine. 
1638-40 — Appalachian Indians captured and sent to St. 

Augustine to labor on public works. 



1665 — Attack on St. Augustine by Pirate John Davis. 
1665— Present fort commenced. 
1690 — Commencement of first sea wall. 
1702 — Governor Moore, of Carolina, attacks St. Augus- 
tine. 

1740 — Gov. Oglethorpe, of Gec^rgia, besieges fort. 
/1740-43— Fort Matanzas built. 1 
^756 — Completion of Fort Marion. 

1763— Florida ceded to England. 

1767 — Nicholas Turnbull brings Minorcans to Florida. 

1776 — Minorcans freed by courts from contract with 
Turnbull and settle at St. Augustine. 

1783 — Florida re-ceded by Great Britain to Spain. 

1793 — St. Augustine Cathedral begun. 

1812 — Spanish monument erected in plaza. 

1821 — July 12th, Stars and Stripes raised over Fort 
Marion. 

1833 — Protestant Episcopal Church consecrated. 
1835-42 — Present sea wall built by U. S. Government. 
1835 — Massacre of 139 men under Major Dade. 
1835-42 — Seminole war. 

1837 — Escape of Coacooche and Hadjo from Fort 
Marion. 

1861 — Fort Marion siezed by Florida troops. 
1862 — March 11, Fort Marion occupied by Federal 
troops. 

1872 — Confederate monument erected in plaza. 
1887— Cathedral burned. 
1885-87— Ponce de Leon Hotel built. 
1887— Methodist Church built. 
1888— Cathedral rebuilt. 
1890 — Presbyterian Church built. 
1906— Y. M. C. A. building erected. 
1913 — Chamber of Commerce organized. 
1914 — April 2nd, the big fire. 

1915 — St. Augustine Historical Society and Institute of 
Science moved into their home. Fort Marion. 



12 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 541 335 7 



St. Augustine Institute of 

Science and 

Historical Society 



Home in Old Fort Marion 



WHERE the society has its collections of 
historic relics and maintains a com- 
petent guide service, giving the his- 
tory and explaining the interesting 
details of this ancient fortress, to which the pub- 
lic is invited. 

The Historical Society recently lost its val- 
uable collection of relics, ancient documents and 
interesting souvenirs by fire, and is now active- 
ly engaged in accumulating another collection, 
and with this object in view urges that every 
one possessing any old relics, documents, etc., 
to kindly turn them over to the Society either 
on loan or as donations for safe keeping in this 
fireproof structure. The Society is also work- 
ing for a fund with which to purchase a val- 
uable private collection, and any donation to this 
fund will be gratefully received. 

St. Augustine Institute of Science 
AND Historical Society, 

St. Augustine, Florida 

THE A. C. PRESS. ST. AUG., FLA. 



